The Schwarzenegger administration deserves a lot of credit
for taking responsibility for the nation’s first comprehensive plan to reduce
pollution that causes global warming. In
designing the scoping plan, the Air Resources Board is charting the course towards
a sustainable future with cleaner air and more jobs in a growing green economy.
The plan’s commitment to expanding proven policies for renewable
energy, efficient buildings, and cleaner cars and fuels is exactly the right
prescription to make sure we prevent the worst effects of global warming from
ever taking place.
Clearly there is a lot at stake in the governor’s plan. A lot has been answered in today’s draft, but
the administration has yet to be clear about whether the they will reward big
polluters with free pollution permits or level the playing field by requiring
polluters to pay.
A fundamental problem with the status quo is that polluting
pays too well, and if we want to solve global warming, then it can’t. For example, the seven biggest oil companies with
refineries in California
netted $134 billion of profit last year.
Meanwhile, dirty sources of energy are costing Californians, from the
prices we pay at the gas pump, to health care expenses from breathing dirty air,
and the damage caused by global warming including increasing wildfires and depleted
snow pack.
Any cap and trade program must require polluters to pay for
their permits through an auction. The
draft scoping plan supports the concept
of requiring polluters to pay, but doesn’t yet commit the state to auctioning
100 percent of permits from the start. California cannot afford
to repeat the mistakes of the European Union, which handed out permits for
free, creating windfall profits by some of the largest polluters.
Auctioning permits is a cleaner, cheaper and smarter
approach. Auctioning permits treats all
emitters equally, placing them on a level playing field and sending economic
signals that encourage cleaner sources of energy. The governor’s final scoping plan in October
should require polluters to pay for their pollution, and then funnel that money
into wind and solar power, greener buildings, and a cleaner transportation
system while also protecting low-income consumers.
